Responses of two field-grown coffee species to drought and re-hydration

The gas exchange, parameters of chlorophyll fluorescence, contents of pigments, and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), as well as lipid peroxidation were investigated in two field-grown coffee species, Coffea arabica and C. liberica, exposed to drought and re-hydration. Drought caused a more pronounced inhibition of net photosynthetic rate in C. liberica compared to C. arabica. The de-epoxidation of xanthophyll cycle pigments at midday estimated by leaf reflectance was much higher in C. arabica than in C. liberica, but no significant change was found in response to drought. Under moderate drought, the activities of SOD and APX increased significantly only in C. arabica. The maximum photochemical efficiency of photosystem 2, PS2 (Fv/Fm) at predawn did not change and there was no lipid peroxidation during this time. Under severe drought Fv/Fm decreased and initial fluorescence (F0) increased for both species, and SOD activity increased, APX activity remained relatively high, and malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulated in C. arabica, while APX decreased in C. liberica. The photosynthetic apparatus of C. arabica was completely recovered after 5 d of re-irrigation as indicated by the restoration of Fv/Fm to the control values. A lack of recovery upon rewatering of C. liberica indicated irreversible damage to PS2. Hence compared to C. liberica, C. arabica possesses a higher desiccation-induced antioxidative protection and higher portion of the total pigment pool used in photoprotection, which might aid alleviating photoinhibitory damage during desiccation and photosynthesis recovery when favourable conditions are restore

Interacting Agegraphic Dark Energy

A new dark energy model, named "agegraphic dark energy", has been proposed recently, based on the so-called K\'{a}rolyh\'{a}zy uncertainty relation, which arises from quantum mechanics together with general relativity. In this note, we extend the original agegraphic dark energy model by including the interaction between agegraphic dark energy and pressureless (dark) matter. In the interacting agegraphic dark energy model, there are many interesting features different from the original agegraphic dark energy model and holographic dark energy model. The similarity and difference between agegraphic dark energy and holographic dark energy are also discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, revtex4; v2: references added; v3: accepted by Eur. Phys. J. C; v4: published versio

Another Two Dark Energy Models Motivated from Karolyhazy Uncertainty Relation

The K$\acute{\text{a}}$rolyh$\acute{\text{a}}$zy uncertainty relation indicates that there exists the minimal detectable cell $\delta t^{3}$ over the region $t^3$ in Minkowski spacetime. Due to the energy-time uncertainty relation, the energy of the cell $\delta t^3$ can not be less $\delta t^{-1}$. Then we get a new energy density of metric fluctuations of Minkowski spacetime as $\delta t^{-4}$. Motivated by the energy density, we propose two new dark energy models. One model is characterized by the age of the universe and the other is characterized by the conformal age of the universe. We find that in the two models, the dark energy mimics a cosmological constant in the late time.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, References are adde

Solidification of Al alloys under electromagnetic pulses and characterization of the 3D microstructures under synchrotron x-ray tomography

A novel programmable electromagnetic pulse device was developed and used to study the solidification of Al-15 pct Cu and Al-35 pct Cu alloys. The pulsed magnetic fluxes and Lorentz forces generated inside the solidifying melts were simulated using finite element methods, and their effects on the solidification microstructures were characterized using electron microscopy and synchrotron X-ray tomography. Using a discharging voltage of 120 V, a pulsed magnetic field with the peak Lorentz force of ~1.6 N was generated inside the solidifying Al-Cu melts which were showed sufficiently enough to disrupt the growth of the primary Al dendrites and the Al2Cu intermetallic phases. The microstructures exhibit a strong correlation to the characteristics of the applied pulse, forming a periodical pattern that resonates the frequency of the applied electromagnetic field

Direct Measurements of the Branching Fractions for D0→K−e+νeD^0 \to K^-e^+\nu_e and D0→π−e+νeD^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e and Determinations of the Form Factors f+K(0)f_{+}^{K}(0) and f+π(0)f^{\pi}_{+}(0)

The absolute branching fractions for the decays $D^0 \to K^-e ^+\nu_e$ and $D^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e$ are determined using $7584\pm 198 \pm 341$ singly tagged $\bar D^0$ sample from the data collected around 3.773 GeV with the BES-II detector at the BEPC. In the system recoiling against the singly tagged $\bar D^0$ meson, $104.0\pm 10.9$ events for $D^0 \to K^-e ^+\nu_e$ and $9.0 \pm 3.6$ events for $D^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e$ decays are observed. Those yield the absolute branching fractions to be $BF(D^0 \to K^-e^+\nu_e)=(3.82 \pm 0.40\pm 0.27)$ and $BF(D^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e)=(0.33 \pm 0.13\pm 0.03)$. The vector form factors are determined to be $|f^K_+(0)| = 0.78 \pm 0.04 \pm 0.03$ and $|f^{\pi}_+(0)| = 0.73 \pm 0.14 \pm 0.06$. The ratio of the two form factors is measured to be $|f^{\pi}_+(0)/f^K_+(0)|= 0.93 \pm 0.19 \pm 0.07$.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Measurements of the Mass and Full-Width of the ηc\eta_c Meson

In a sample of 58 million $J/\psi$ events collected with the BES II detector, the process J/$\psi\to\gamma\eta_c$ is observed in five different decay channels: $\gamma K^+K^-\pi^+\pi^-$, $\gamma\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$, $\gamma K^\pm K^0_S \pi^\mp$ (with $K^0_S\to\pi^+\pi^-$), $\gamma \phi\phi$ (with $\phi\to K^+K^-$) and $\gamma p\bar{p}$. From a combined fit of all five channels, we determine the mass and full-width of $\eta_c$ to be $m_{\eta_c}=2977.5\pm1.0 ({stat.})\pm1.2 ({syst.})$ MeV/$c^2$ and $\Gamma_{\eta_c} = 17.0\pm3.7 ({stat.})\pm7.4 ({syst.})$ MeV/$c^2$.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures and 4 table. Submitted to Phys. Lett.

The σ\sigma pole in J/ψ→ωπ+π−J/\psi \to \omega \pi^+ \pi^-

Using a sample of 58 million $J/\psi$ events recorded in the BESII detector, the decay $J/\psi \to \omega \pi^+ \pi^-$ is studied. There are conspicuous $\omega f_2(1270)$ and $b_1(1235)\pi$ signals. At low $\pi \pi$ mass, a large broad peak due to the $\sigma$ is observed, and its pole position is determined to be $(541 \pm 39)$ - $i$ $(252 \pm 42)$ MeV from the mean of six analyses. The errors are dominated by the systematic errors.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, submitted to PL

Search for the Lepton Flavor Violation Processes J/ψ→J/\psi \to μτ\mu\tau and eτe\tau

The lepton flavor violation processes $J/\psi \to \mu\tau$ and $e\tau$ are searched for using a sample of 5.8$\times 10^7$ $J/\psi$ events collected with the BESII detector. Zero and one candidate events, consistent with the estimated background, are observed in $J/\psi \to \mu\tau, \tau\to e\bar\nu_e\nu_{\tau}$ and $J/\psi\to e\tau, \tau\to\mu\bar\nu_{\mu}\nu_{\tau}$ decays, respectively. Upper limits on the branching ratios are determined to be $Br(J/\psi\to\mu\tau)<2.0 \times 10^{-6}$ and $Br(J/\psi \to e\tau) < 8.3 \times10^{-6}$ at the 90% confidence level (C.L.).Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

Observation of the decay \psip\rar\kstark

Using 14 million $\psi(2S)$ events collected with the BESII detector, branching fractions of \psip\rar\kstarkpm and \kstarknn are determined to be: \calB(\psip\rar\kstarkpm)=(2.9^{+1.3}_{-1.7}\pm0.4)\times 10^{-5} and \calB(\psip\rar\kstarknn)=(13.3^{+2.4}_{-2.7}\pm1.9)\times 10^{-5}. The results confirm the violation of the "12%" rule for these two decay channels with higher precision. A large isospin violation between the charged and neutral modes is observed.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure